Armies of Imperial Japan has arrived, and that means we’ve reached the end of the Bolt Action ‘Big Five’ release cycle – Germany, the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Japan now have their Armies of… books, just like they did in the last two editions.
So, where do we go from here? Well, first off we’re taking a couple of weeks as a break to get everything ready for Armies of Italy pre-orders, and then it’s right back into the one book per quarter release schedule! We’ve already talked a little bit about the next three books – Italy, the British Commonwealth, and France, but now’s a good time to look ahead, because these are quite different to what’s come before!
Everyone loves a roadmap, and we’ve updated ours to reflect where we’re at, and where we’re going. Have a look, and then read on for some more top secret intelligence!
Italy
Coming soon to pre-order, Armies of Italy covers – what else? – the Italian participation in World War II. Now, the majority of that participation was as a member of the Axis Powers, but not all of it. That’s right – Armies of Italy includes not only the ‘main’ Italian army list, but also new units, national special rules, and army lists for the Co-Belligerent forces who fought alongside the Allies, and the Axis-backed RSI, allowing you to field Italian troops right up until the end of the war! Once pre-orders arrive we’ll start our series of intelligence reports into the book’s contents, so make sure you stay tuned for those.
British Commonwealth
This is a truly unique book! We’ve never done something quite like this before, and it was honestly a huge challenge to approach. Covering Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South African, British Indian, and British African forces, the scope of this book is frankly enormous. We’ve brought in some expert assistance from across the world to ensure that the many and varied contributions of these forces are properly represented, and mechanically this book presents a whole new way to use a lot of your existing British models. It’s not just an addendum to Armies of Great Britain, however – it’s a standalone book, containing six army lists, with special rules and units to accompany them.
France
Similarly to Armies of Italy, we were determined to represent more than just the period up to and including the Fall of France with this book. French troops contributed far more than those few bloody weeks of battle, and as such Armies of France will include both Free French and Vichy French army lists – again including new units and national special rules! We’ve also taken the opportunity with both France and Italy to look at some of the more specialised units that could be found throughout the Campaign and Theatre books of previous editions, with a view to incorporating them into the main books.
After all that…
Well, there’s only one logical place to look, isn’t there? The so-called ‘further nations’, those lesser-known combatants, can finally have their day in the sun. Armies of the Axis & Allies is now in development, and it’s looking to cover and expand many of the nations currently served by the free PDF army lists. Of course, there will be some that don’t make it into the book, and some who don’t currently have a list at all. For those ‘fringe’ cases, you can expect to see expanded and updated new PDFs once the final army books are released. After that… it’s a brave new world, and we’ve got some very exciting plans, but we’ll be telling you more about that in the future.
Don’t forget the models!
Alongside all of these books, we’ll be continuing our schedule of new plastic infantry and vehicles, as well as resin and metal specialist and weapons teams and a very exciting new miniatures project that must stay secret – for now! There’ll be something for everyone, and we couldn’t be more excited for what the future of Bolt Action holds. Thank you for being part of this awesome journey!
There’s never been a better time to dive into Bolt Action. Ready to join the ranks?
